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Alex Rodriguez, left, and Andy Pettitte both admitted steroid use, and both seem to have been forgiven by fans as they succeed on the field.

As part of their agreement, Hooton would not reveal the extent of Rodriguez’s commitment other than to say they had visited several schools. He did recall sitting with Rodriguez at a restaurant in Tampa, Fla., last spring, soon after his public admission, the two of them trying to figure out what his message would be.

“He kept using the word ‘balanced,’ ” Hooton said. “He said, ‘Don, when I wasn’t using steroids, I always felt more balanced, more whole, than when I did.’ I said, ‘Alex, that’s your message right there.’ Here we are, less than a year later, he’s back to hero status. It’s not all that complicated.”

But the steroid debate has been confusing, a continuing argument about how much the public cares or should care. That, Vincent said, is part of a greater cultural problem.

“The reason why we can’t find a solution on these things is because there is no clear consensus in this country on what’s wrong in the first place at a time when there is so much that is wrong,” Vincent said.

All of which makes baseball, a form of daily escapism from spring through fall, that much more appealing to a population stressed out by a tanked economy, unemployment and unending wars.

Athletes may be easier to forgive than politicians who not only cross the ethical line but also fail to deliver in the clutch on budget control and health care. For people inside the stadium or watching on television, uncomplicated resolution is much easier to come by as long as the offender keeps his eye on the ball, and has come clean.

“American people are tremendously forgiving,” Yesalis said. “And they don’t ask too much.”

This article, "With Steroids Fever, Steriods Issue Fades to the Past," first appeared in The New York Times.

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